Viber: A Must Have For Free Calls And More

In case you haven’t figured it out already, I’m just going to say it- I LOVE messaging apps. I’ve tried every single one, and if it’s even semi good, I keep it, regardless of how few contacts I may have in it. If there’s an app that lets me send some sort of data to another iPhone, chances are I’ll love it. Viber is no exception. It was one of the first apps I downloaded on the day I got my iPhone, and with good reason- it ROCKS! Here are a few reasons why I think you should be using it:

1) Calling Features

Viber, unlike most of its competitors, allows you to make calls right from the app. It’s basically a phone and SMS replacement in one. It acts like a regular phone- no pins or usernames required. All you need is your friends number, and for him to have Viber installed to start making completely free calls. An Internet connection is needed- either via 3G or wifi, but then again, every messaging app requires that, so its to be expected.

2) Sound Quality

Viber does something pretty incredible, it’s sound quality is better that using the built in phone app! Don’t believe me? Try making a call, after about five seconds you’ll see a huge difference. I don’t know how they did it, and I don’t care. The fact that they beat Apple at this is… Well, let’s just say They’ve earned my respect.

3) Complete Phone Replacement

Like I mentioned before, to start using Viber for making free calls, both parties have to have it installed on their phones. But let’s say your friend doesn’t have Viber? Then what? Well, it’s a pretty simple solution really, Viber allows you to call someone without the app, but it will be without the awesome features. In other words, it will be as if you’re calling from the phone app, except you’re not, you’re calling from Viber. Why is this helpful? Because it means that you can stop using the phone app altogether, because Viber does exactly the same thing. Unless your friend also has it, and then you get all the sweet extras.

I know I haven’t really talked about much of the messaging features, but trust me, they’re all there. The one thing they are missing though are delivered/read receipts, but the fact that you can make phone calls totally makes up for it. Personally, I use Viber in addition to another messaging app, one with slightly more advanced messaging features, like PingMe or WhatsApp. This way, I get the awesome phone calls from Viber, and the advanced messaging from another app. Together, they’re an unstoppable force of free services. And isn’t that what apps are all about? Doing something better than the original, for free.